FoodCorps

FoodCorps connects kids to healthy food in school, so they can lead healthier lives and reach their full potential. Service members provide hands-on education in nutrition, cooking and gardening.

FoodCorps has national network of offices, service sites and state partners, collaborating to deliver consistently high quality, impactful programs to students. 220 service members have been placed across the network in 18 states.

In North Carolina, FoodCorps is supported by 4-H and Center for Environmental Systems. Currently, fifteen service members serve across the state, from Cherokee to Wilmington.

A FoodCorps service member has been placed in Warren County since the program’s inception. FoodCorps in Warren County is co-hosted by Working Landscapes and Warren County Cooperative Extension.

FoodCorps supports Working Landscapes mission by working in classrooms, cafeterias and gardens to connect kids with healthy local foods. Since October 2017, FoodCorps, Cooperative Extension and Working Landscapes have collaborated to host 11 taste tests at Warren County elementary schools featuring local produce:

Apples

Cabbage (diced at the Working Landscapes Produce Center!)

Collard greens (diced at the Working Landscapes Produce Center!)

Sweet potatoes (diced at the Working Landscapes Produce Center!)

The 2017-18 Service Member Rachel Earnhardt works regularly with around 20 classes K-5 (nearly 250 students) at Mariam Boyd, Northside, and South Warren elementaries. In any given week, you can find her making smoothies with Kindergarten, leading first graders in a round of Vegetable Yoga, helping second graders plant beet & carrot seeds to examine the roots, teaching third graders about plant parts while eating plant part wraps, and cheering on fourth graders who are exploring food systems.

Some highlights so far this year:

Several dozen first and second graders tried purple carrots for the first time while learning about roots!

16 classes wrote “Vegetable Valentines”—love letters to produce

5 classes planted collard greens, kale and turnips

If you would like to learn more about FoodCorps programs or if you would like to become a volunteer, please contact Rachel!